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Crown Castle (CCI) Increases Yet Falls Behind Market: What Investors Need to Know

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Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) closed at $112.07 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.45% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.51%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.2%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.58%.

The the stock of operator of wireless communications towers has risen by 3.63% in the past month, lagging the Finance sector's gain of 4.57% and overreaching the S&P 500's gain of 2.94%.

The upcoming earnings release of Crown Castle will be of great interest to investors. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.71, down 10.47% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.63 billion, down 8.14% from the year-ago period.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $6.94 per share and revenue of $6.6 billion, indicating changes of -8.08% and -5.43%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Crown Castle. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.02% downward. Crown Castle is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Crown Castle's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 16.07. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.13, so one might conclude that Crown Castle is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can additionally observe that CCI currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.82. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry stood at 2.34 at the close of the market yesterday.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 136, this industry ranks in the bottom 47% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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